Spread Too Thin

Today, instead of putting my son on the bus and going straight to work, I took him to school so I could visit his class for “First Fridays.” First Fridays are a monthly occurrence on which parents are allowed – and encouraged – drop in on school and find out what our kids are working on.

Afterwards, on the train – in the middle of wondering WTF common core is all about – I suddenly realized I’d completely forgotten to do something I was supposed to have done first thing that morning.

Maybe it’s because I’m 42. Maybe it’s because I’m tired. But I think it might be because I’m spread too thin.

This is me, on the subway, moments after realizing I’d totally forgotten to do something for work.Between parenting, and a full-time job, and my blog and social media empire, and some freelancing work, and a marriage, and managing the budget, and finding time to not go to the gym, and setting my fantasy lineup, and keeping my ongoing list of grievances – against my children and coworkers and people who bump me on the subway or walk too slowly on the sidewalk or didn’t have Butterfingers or Take Fives during Halloween – up to date, I have a lot going on.

We all do. (Though you might not have a list of grievances. To each their own!) We’re parents. And we’re people too!

Between overseeing our kids’ lives and maintaining our own non-parent lives, our head space is pretty much at capacity at all times. Even our weekends are planned out and scheduled and booked. Every once in a while, something is gonna get missed.

Today, something did.

Maybe I need to start scheduling better and becoming more organized. Maybe I need to take on less work (and somehow hit the lottery). Or maybe I should have had fewer kids!

I don’t have an answer.

I don’t even know that there is one these days, for anyone, but especially for parents.

The best we can do is find ways to decompress and take some kind of a break, even if that means staying up until 2am with one (or three) too many glasses of wine just so there is an hour or two when no one is asking us for stuff and our brains can shut off. (I see you, Mom and Buried!)

It’s better than having our brains shut off during the day, and missing something like I did this morning.

But at least I didn’t miss First Fridays. That would have been so much worse. Because my son wouldn’t have forgotten that.